Wednesday, January 15th
noon – 1:30 pm
Seuss Room, Geisel Library

Free and open to the public.

Join us for a Maker Open House! To provide users an opportunity to test/play with a variety of different tools and crafts, the UC San Diego Library will be hosting a pop up makerspace workshop. At the event, Library staff will be on hand to help with the following:

Faculty Lecture:Monsters in Our Midst: Being Human, True Blood and the New Outsider Professor Lisa Lampert-Weissig Wednesday, October 23, 2-3pmSeuss Room, Geisel LibraryRefreshments will be served.

What if our familiar world were actually inhabited by supernatural beings, who lived and loved amongst us without our even being aware of their difference?

In a lively talk, Professor Lisa Lampert-Weissig shares some of her current work on depictions of vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural beings in popular culture. Focusing on the notion of the everyday uncanny, she discusses the way characters in Being Human and True Blood are depicted as hidden minorities, whose complex lives raise important questions about what it means to be human and who is entitled to claim a place as home.

There have always been monsters among us. Terrifying, tantalizing, and ever adaptable, these creatures mirror our deepest fears and most secret desires. Our monsters reveal us to ourselves, showing what it means to be human at a particular time, in a particular place.

“Monster derives from the Latin word monstrum, which in turn derives from the root monere (to warn). To be a monster is to be an omen. Sometimes the monster is a display of God’s wrath, a portent of the future, a symbol of moral virtue or vice, or an accident of nature. The monster is more than an odious creature of the imagination; it is a kind of cultural category, employed in domains as diverse as religion, biology, literature and politics. Hand in hand with this idea that metaphors shape our thinking, communicating, and even feeling is the idea that imagination is more active in our picture of reality that we previously acknowledged. The monster, of course, is a product of and regular inhabitant of the imagination, but the imagination is a driving force behind our entire perception of the world. If we find monsters in our world, it is sometimes because they are really there and sometimes because we have brought them with us.” (Stephen T. Asma, On Monsters: An Unnatural History of our Worst Fears)

The time is now; the place is Geisel Library: come explore the changing aspects of the monsters in our midst.

Join us for a reading and discussion of Clay Hills and Mud Pies. The author will be joining us!

Tuesday, October 8th, 2013
12:00 – 1:00 pm
Seuss Room, Geisel Library

In collaboration with the Colleges Rock Hunger food drive, we’re participating in the annual Tritons Rock Hunger food drive, and asking you to bring non-perishable food items that will be donated to the San Diego Food Bank.

Refreshments will be served!

Clay Hills and Mud Pies is a collection of stories recounting a Mexican American family’s 100 year history in the United States. Three memoirs in one, this San Diego Book Awards Finalist is rich with Mexican folklore and Americana.

Annie Mary Perez was born in Los Angeles and earned her bachelor’s degree in Social Science at CSULA. She currently lives in a beachside community in Southern California and works as a professional writer and editor. She travels extensively and volunteers for Latino Literacy Now, a non-profit organization that promotes literacy in the Latino community.

Sponsored by the Librarians Association of UC San Diego’s Committee on Diversity

Amos Oz, one of Israel’s most distinguished novelists and public intellectuals. Oz, 73, is the author of 18 books and more than 400 articles and essays in Hebrew, with translations of his work into some 40 languages, including Arabic. The recipient of numerous awards for his literature and for his peace activism, Oz is also a professor of literature at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva. His autobiographical novel “A Tale of Love and Darkness” is an international bestseller and has been honored with 10 different prizes around the world. A film based on the novel is expected to begin production later this year. Most recently, he co-authored “Jews and Words” with his daughter Fania Oz-Salzberger, in which they argue that what unites the Jewish people, more than blood or belief, are sacred and secular texts.

“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a clash of right and right,” Oz recently told the New York Times. “Tragedies are resolved in one of two ways: The Shakespearian way or the Anton Chekhov way. In a tragedy by Shakespeare, the stage at the end is littered with dead bodies. In a tragedy by Chekhov everyone is unhappy, bitter, disillusioned and melancholy but they are alive. My colleagues in the peace movement and I are working for a Chekhovian not a Shakespearian conclusion.”

Among his many awards and honors, Oz has received the Legion of Honour of France, the Goethe Prize, the French Prix Femina, the Frankfurt Peace Prize, the National Jewish Book Award, the Primo Levi prize, the Prince of Asturias Award in Literature, the Heinrich Heine Prize, and the Israel Prize.

The UC San Diego Library to excited to present an exhibit, “Amos Oz: Life and Letters,” from April 17 through June 10. The exhibit, in the west wing of Geisel Library’s main floor, will take Oz’s “A Tale of Love and Darkness” as a springing-off point to consider the author’s life and writings, Israeli literature, and Israeli/Palestinian history and politics. Specific exhibit areas include: Oz’s early life and family history; his literary influences and the writers he has influenced; and the development of modern Hebrew as a literary language.

The Library also created a guide to help locate his books in our collections, along with suggesting resources for those interested in more in-depth research: http://libguides.ucsd.edu/amosoz

Forty years ago Joel Dimsdale started researching concentration camp survivors. Little did he know where his journey of discovery would lead him. After a visit of the Nuremberg executioner, he switched from studying victims to perpetrators. His latest research is based on an analysis of Rorschach inkblot tests administered at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial. Using extensive archival data, Dimsdale reviews what the Nuremberg Rorschachs can (and cannot) tell us about the Nazi mass murderers.

Dr. Joel E. Dimsdale is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus and Research Professor at the University of California, San Diego, who has authored and edited over 500 publications including Survivors, Victims, and Perpetrators: Essays on the Nazi Holocaust. At this talk he will be introduced by Seth Lerer, the UCSD Dean of Arts and Humanities.

The Holocaust Living History Workshop is an outreach and education program sponsored by the UC San Diego Library and UC San Diego Judaic Studies Department.

]]>0Singh, Gayatrihttp://libraries.ucsd.edu/blogs/sshl/?p=9852013-02-15T14:32:29Z2013-01-24T17:17:34ZExhibit: On display February 1 – April 15, 2013 Geisel Library West, main floor Open to all

Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race,
until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skins,
emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact. — Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963

150 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation granting freedom to those enslaved. By 1963, 100 years later, that promise had yet to be realized. But its time had come. From grassroots protests to Supreme Court cases, activists demanded freedom and equality for all. Boycotts were organized. Speeches were made. Students occupied lunch counters and Freedom Riders rode interstate buses through the South, risking their lives to test new anti-segregation laws. But even as activists gathered to challenge institutionalized racism, some stood in the spotlight and others were relegated to the wings, where they struggled with a sudden recognition that discrimination reached far beyond the bounds of race.

Big Bessie’s feet hurt like nobody’s business, but she stands- bigly – under the unruly scrutiny, stands in the wild seed. In the wild weed she is a citizen, and, in a moment of the highest quality, admirable. It is lonesome, yes. For we are the last of the loud. Nevertheless, live. Conduct your blooming in the noise and whip of the whirlwind. — Gwendolyn Brooks, from “The Second Sermon on the Warpland”

Visit the UC San Diego Library’s exhibit which celebrates the March on Washington and the stories of many of the organizers and participants in the Civil Rights Movement who aren’t always recognized in textbooks and the dominant narratives about those turbulent times. The exhibit also reaches back to offer a fresh take on Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. Highlighting the library’s rich resources, materials have been gathered from our print and online collections.

February 22, 2013
Seuss Room, Geisel Library building 12:00 – 1:30 pm Open to all. Refreshments will be served.Pleaseregister for the event.

The Social Sciences & Humanities Library invites you to a stimulating discussion with three veterans of the Civil Rights movement. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Thurgood Marshall made the headlines, but the battle for civil rights was waged by ordinary Americans, made extraordinary by their steadfast convictions, courageous actions, and untiring dedication to the ideal of freedom and justice for all. Sometimes risking their lives, our panelists and countless others challenged the government to enact and truly enforce Civil Rights legislation. Jim Garrett, Bob Filner, and Carroll Waymon—who have stood on the front lines of freedom then and now–will share their own experiences and the stories of other organizers and activists who didn’t make it into the spotlight. This should prove to be an unforgettable afternoon.

UCSD History Professor Daniel Widener will moderate the discussion with the following panelists:

James Garrett, an early activist in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, directed the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) offices in Watts and Hollywood (1965). As a student, he founded the first Black Student Union at San Francisco State University. A retired scholar and legal consultant who holds JD and PhD degrees, he continues to work in human rights organizing and advocacy.

Bob Filner, City of San Diego Mayor, was only an 18-year old student at Cornell University when he joined the Freedom Rides in Nashville. In 1963, he was arrested in Mississippi on a Freedom Ride, and spent several weeks in the Mississippi State Penitentiary. After receiving his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1969, Filner moved to San Diego and embarked on a 20-year long teaching career at San Diego State University. Always the activist, he warned his students that their “grand” thoughts were futile unless they put them into action to help people and improve the world. Filner went on to serve in a variety of elected positions, including San Diego City Council, the U.S. Congress, and now Mayor of San Diego.

Dr. Carrol Waymon was the founder and first director of the Citizens Interracial Committee (CIC), San Diego’s first human relations agency. When Waymon came to San Diego in 1964, conditions in the city were so intolerant that he branded it the “Mississippi of the West.” Among his committee’s achievements: the removal of restricted covenants so that African Americans and other people of color could live anywhere they wanted in San Diego; and writing the first Equal Opportunity ordinances for the city and county, opening up opportunities for employment. In 2013, Waymon was named a San Diego Civil Rights Hero honoree.

The Library is excited to feature the 2013 Opportunity Quilt created by the San Diego People of Color Quilt Guild. Raffle tickets will be available for $1. The raffle ticket will be drawn on March 2nd at the Guild 2013 Quilt Show.

He Walked Through Wallstells the story of a man caught up in the major tragedies of the twentieth century. Born in Poland in 1901, Henyek Miedzianagora survived three European wars including World War II and the Holocaust. Written by his daughter Myriam Miedzian, the book reads like a memoir and raises important questions about the ethics of survival. Dr. Miedzian is a professor of philosophy and the author of numerous books, articles, blogs, and op-eds on social, cultural, and political issues.

Speaker Ellen Cassedy, a scholar of Yiddish and a playwright, researches and writes about Lithuania’s genocidal past, the Soviet era, and Lithuanian hopes for the future. Her new book We Are Here is a testimony of her decade-long study of an unparalleled tragedy. This event is jointly sponsored by Miriam and Jerome Katzin, and the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center. For ticket information please contact Marcia Tatz Woellner at marciatw@lfjcc.com or 858-362-1174.

Jackie Gmach and the Sephardic Experience: Between Two Worlds5:00pm, February 20th, Seuss Room, Geisel Library

Speaker Jackie-Gmach-Nataf was a little girl when the Germans occupied her native Tunisia. After spending several years in Israel and then in France, she moved to the US where she became active in Jewish education. She is currently at work on her memoirs. This event is sponsored by Joan and Irwin Jacobs.

From Shtetl to Shetl: A Journey Across 3 Continents
5:00pm, March 13th, Seuss Room, Geisel Library

Speaker Dr. Franklin Gaylis, a San Diego physician who grew up in South Africa, has traveled three continents in search of his family’s past in Lithuania and Latvia.

The holidays can be a frenzied time as we all look for just the right gift for the special people in our lives. This year consider purchasing a few locally made and/or sustainable gifts. Many retailers are offering unique products made from recycled and sustainable materials.

According to Independent We Stand, small businesses account for 75% of all new jobs. When a person spends just $100.00 locally, $68.00 stays in the community,whereas if you spend it at a local chain the amount drops to $43.00. Shopping locally is not only good for the locally economy it is good for the environment.http://www.independentwestand.org/learn-more/about/faqs/

What can you do with an economics degree? Come learn more! Kathleen DeBoer, Deputy Head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development’s Washington Center, will speak about career and internship opportunities at OECD and other organizations, and highlight the OECD’s publications (quick link: http://ucsd.libguides.com/oecd) and the current economic outlook for employment. OECD is is a non-governmental organization based in Paris with a mission to promote ‘polices that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.’

Adele Barsh, the UCSD Economics & Business Librarian, will cover what resources are available about economics careers and job hunting.

Monday, October 293:30 – 5:00 pm Seuss Room, Geisel Library

Open to all. No RSVP.

This event is sponsored by The Library, Associated Students Office of Academic Affairs and OECD. For more information, contact UCSD’s OECD Student Ambassador, Irene Chang (i6chang@ucsd.edu).

]]>0Christensen, Marlaynahttp://libraries.ucsd.edu/blogs/sshl/?p=9382012-10-23T23:09:30Z2012-10-22T17:18:08ZTimely behind-the-scenes insights into the current presidential campaign and those of past challengers will be offered by Samuel Popkin, noted political scientist and author, during a free lecture at noon, Nov. 1, in the Geisel Library at UC San Diego.

Popkin, a professor of political science at UC San Diego, is the author of the newly-published book The Candidate: What It Takes to Win—and Hold—the White House.The New York Times hailed his book as a “management bible for the business of presidential campaigning” in which Popkin argues that “polling, strategy and even a candidate’s platform are less important than organization.”

The Washington Post called Popkin’s campaign book a “compelling history” and The Financial Times called it “a fix for political junkies” while George Stephanopoulos praised it for the “surprising secrets” unveiled by Popkin’s unique ability to connect the minds of voters with the machinery of political campaigns.

Popkin’s previous book, The Reasoning Voter was described as a classic by Joe Klein in Timemagazine, and has been widely cited in Washington as well as in academia.

Popkin is an active participant as well as an academic analyst of presidential elections. He has consulted on polling, targeting and strategy in the presidential campaigns of Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and George McGovern, and played Ronald Reagan for Carter in the practice debates held before the 1980 Carter-Reagan debate.